DDLC: Our Time

Chapter 14: Misunderstanding

Alex made his way down the local mall with his earbuds in his ears and his hands in his jacket pockets. He wandered around aimlessly, nodding his head to his music and looking for a store to catch his eye so that he could go inside...

Wait.

"What's going on here?" Monika asked. Alex flinched in surprise and removed his earbuds.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well you're gone for like a month and now all of a sudden you wanna jump into some random scene?" Monika pointed out.

"Right, yeah, sorry. It's been awhile. I've been really busy and working on other projects." Alex explained.

"I understand that, that's fine. But what happened to what we talked about last time? You said that we were gonna do a story about me coming to your reality." She brought up. Alex nodded slowly.

"Yeahhh, we are." He acknowledged.

"So then what is this then?" She asked.

"We're not...doing that story here. This is something else. This is separate from that other idea." Alex explained in more detail.

"It is?"

"Yeah. I mean, it wouldn't make sense to change what this story is about halfway through." He said with a chuckle. Monika exhaled through her nose, trying not to express too much impatience.

"Okay...so when does the other story start?" She asked.

"I don't know, honestly. I've started on the basics, but I really haven't done any planning or anything like that." Alex answered with a shrug.

"How long will it take?" She asked.

"I don't know. But it'll be alright," Alex reassured her, rubbing his hands on her arms. "I'm doing what I can. All in good time, I promise." He said.

"Okay...I just wanna hurry up and finally feel what it's like to be out of here. I want to be with you already." Monika whined.

"I know I know, and I'm working on it. But you gotta understand, I only have a little bit of time to work on this kinda stuff. It'll take longer for me to provide you with the experience you really want.

"And, not to break the fourth wall or anything, but it's not easy getting all of this written out in the midst of work and my responsibilities, you know. I'm already pushing myself just to get this chapter out." Alex pointed out.

"Alright...alright, I'm sorry. I don't mean to push you. I just misunderstood." Monika apologized.

"It's okay. I'm not mad or anything. I guess I just should've explained it better." Alex acknowledged.

"Yeah...um, so what was this chapter supposed to be about? Were we supposed to run into each other here?" She asked curiously.

"Actually I was gonna make this a Natsuki chapter. I've been kinda short on ideas, but I figured running into Natsuki here at the mall would make sense since I know she likes going out." Alex answered.

"Natsuki? You like Natsuki?" Monika asked in surprise.

"I think everyone in the Literature Club is cool," Alex answered with a little chuckle. "I'm just tryna throw some variety in there."

"Oh," Monika rolled her eyes and looked away in disappointment. "Alright. Well you can do that, I guess."

"Okay...everything alright, Moni?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'll just sit out for this one." She said.

"Okay. We'll get back to this a little later then." Alex decided...